


fill in the quiet with something soft

by artenon



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Depression, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 13:48:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15172022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artenon/pseuds/artenon
Summary: It was just going to be one of those days, the kind of day where you feel stuck in your own body, and time moves around you rather than with you, and so hours pass and you haven’t moved and have only formed half a thought that you should really do something about this.(Kuroo has one of Those Days and Kenma does as best friends do.)





	fill in the quiet with something soft

**Author's Note:**

> sportsfest bonus round 2!! aka oh god how am i gonna write the things i've been planning to write when there are all these great prompts
> 
> i love kuroo and kenma's friendship always ;v;
> 
> also i put haikyuu into 2018 so kenma could have a nintendo switch, heh
> 
> the prompt, by the way, was [this comic](https://twitter.com/elclimo/status/1012796182307876865), though i carried over the theme of "knowing how to take care of your friend on a bad day" rather than the milkshakes and crazy straws

The thing about vacations is that you get too much free time.

Not that Tetsurou particularly enjoys school or homework, but it’s a distraction that he’s forced to deal with, even when he doesn’t want to. Left to his own devices, that’s when the trouble starts.

He’s in bed, curled up with his blanket pulled over his entire body. He has no idea what time it is, but he ate two pieces of toast for breakfast and he’s not hungry yet, so. He has that going for him, at least.

His bedroom door opens. Both his parents are at work, so he’s not at all surprised to hear Kenma’s voice.

“Everyone’s nagging me because you’re not replying to their messages.”

“My phone’s off.”  It’s a true statement, but he knows it’s not the answer Kenma was looking for.

He’s a pretty shitty captain to be missing volleyball practice, but they had yesterday off to give their bodies a break and Tetsurou spent the day at home alone. Somewhere in between bites of reheated leftovers for dinner and a commercial for dog food playing on TV, Tetsurou was hit with a sucker punch of loneliness.

He considered calling Kenma, or even going over since he was right next door, but Kenma likes to go full hermit on days off and play video games and not talk to anyone while he recharges his social interaction battery. He’s said that Tetsurou is an exception and being around him doesn’t usually wear him out, but Tetsurou still tries to give him his space when he can.

It’s not because he’s worried that otherwise he’ll finally annoy Kenma into revoking their friendship or anything. Not at all.

Only, maybe a little bit. Just sometimes.

Not most days. Just some days. Like last night.

And then he considered calling Bokuto or Yaku, but by that point the very idea of moving his jaw and tongue and talking and even thinking of words to say felt like too great a task, and that was when he knew he was screwed.

He knows what he’s supposed to do in these situations: go out anyway, call his friends anyway, get up and move around anyway, don’t just sit there with half-eaten food that’s suddenly lost all its taste.

He knew what he was supposed to do last night, but instead he did this: he put his leftovers back in the fridge, he turned off the TV because even with the volume on low it was too loud, and then he went to bed even though it was hours before he usually slept.

He didn’t feel any better when he woke up this morning. He already knew it, anyway. It was just going to be one of those days, the kind of day where you feel stuck in your own body, and time moves around you rather than with you, and so hours pass and you haven’t moved and have only formed half a thought that you should really do something about this.

Sometimes all you can do is ride these days out, so Tetsurou ate two pieces of toast for breakfast, turned off his phone when texts started rolling in asking why he wasn’t at practice yet, buried himself under his blanket, and waited.

He’d half-hoped that Kenma would show up because he misses him, which is stupid, because he just saw him two days ago, but now that he’s here, Tetsurou doesn’t know what to say.

The door clicks shut, and Kenma’s voice gets closer. “I volunteered to check on you.”

_ Took the opportunity to ditch practice, more like _ , is what Tetsurou would say, teasingly, if conversation didn’t feel like a pointless exercise right now.

Kenma sighs softly. “What do you want me to do?”

Tetsurou makes the vocal equivalent of a shrug and draws his blanket tighter around himself.

“Do you want to talk?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to leave?”

“No.”

The bed dips as Kenma sits down. “I don’t know which end is your butt and which is your head.” His hand drops on top of the blanket, somewhere around Tetsurou’s middle.

Tetsurou squirms and pops his head out of the blanket. His hair is even messier than usual, probably, and his eyelids feel heavy, and he doesn’t remember how to use his facial muscles to make expressions. Kenma looks as he always does, eyes passive as he moves his hand up to pet Tetsurou’s hair, but there’s a slight tightness to his lips.

“If you don’t wanna do anything, I brought my Switch,” Kenma says. “Want me to hook it up to the TV?”

Tetsurou blinks.

“I’m going to hook it up to the TV.”

“Okay,” Tetsurou says.

Kenma gets up from the bed and goes to where he knows Tetsurou keeps a spare HDMI cable in his desk. While he sets up the gaming console, Tetsurou reaches for his phone and turns it on.

He drops it again when he sees the number of unread messages.

So that was a bad idea.

Kenma sits back down on the bed. “You want the volume off or on?”

Instead of answering, Tetsurou pushes his face into Kenma’s thigh and breathes in. Kenma doesn’t really smell like anything in particular, but he’s warm and the closeness is comforting.

He rolls back over so he can face the TV monitor. “Doesn’t matter.”

Kenma leaves the sound on, and Tetsurou watches him play.

He’s known this, but watching Kenma play video games is the best kind of distraction. Because he can’t focus on a book or a movie, but it’s okay if he zones in and out while Kenma farms ingredients for gear upgrades in  _ Breath of the Wild _ . And watching him run around in-game and listening to the background music and combat sounds is enough to distract him from really thinking about anything.

The hours spent like this don’t make him feel as bad as the hours passed by himself staring at the wall, even though he’s effectively doing nothing either way. Kenma knows this, too. That’s why he came over and brought his game and put it on the monitor even though he likes playing handheld better.

“You’re my best friend,” Tetsurou says, because he’s trying to show his appreciation more instead of asking,  _ You don’t hate me, right? _

Kenma doesn’t miss a beat. “You’re mine, too.”

Tetsurou is so, so glad he has someone like him in his life.

Everyone thinks he and Kenma are really different people, and maybe they are in a lot of ways, but the thing is, they  _ get _ each other. They fill in each other’s quiet, not with noise, but with something softer. Tetsurou’s the only exception when Kenma wants to be alone, and Kenma’s the only one who gets to see Tetsurou when he feels so painfully empty.

At least a couple hours pass without any words exchanged. In an incredible display of patience, Kenma spends at least one of those hours repeatedly bowling using a giant snowball to make in-game money. It must be the same sort of patience he needs to put up with Tetsurou on these sorts of days. 

“Do you want to help me clear some shrines?” Kenma asks eventually, referring to the game’s numerous optional puzzle levels.

Tetsurou knows Kenma doesn’t need help just as well as Kenma knows Tetsurou loves solving puzzles.

He sits up and groans as he stretches out his stiff limbs.

“Sure.” He leans into Kenma’s side, solid and steady. “Let’s do it.”


End file.
